


❓

by ldiot



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s05e07 Ace Chemicals, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 12:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18365939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ldiot/pseuds/ldiot
Summary: He feels the acid burn his skin, as if it was melting, as if hisboneswere melting. They probably are. The pain unbearable, he wants to scream.He feels the acid enter through his throat, burning his insides as well.He feels his eyes give out, his vision gone from green to white… and suddenly there’s only darkness.He feels...





	❓

**Author's Note:**

> making emoji titles is gonna be the end of me asgdh

Ace chemicals.

Jeremiah has Bruce pinned to the railing, clutching at him as if his life depended on it. Below them, boiling acid green lightens the area, waiting.

“ _YOU NEED ME!_ ”

Jeremiah screams at Bruce, because he tried. He tried so hard to make Bruce see. To make him _understand_. But he refuses to. He refuses to see that what he did, _all_ he did, was for him.

How did it end like this?

“ _I’M THE ANSWER TO YOUR LIFE’S QUESTIONS!_ ”

He kept a perfectly stoic facade for months. Admittedly, he cracked a bit in the very last ones. But he thought this would be it. He knew, he knew the moment he revealed himself back at the cemetery, that Bruce could never love him. Not really.

Not with the big betrayal those pretty eyes had radiated, then. But it didn’t matter, because one day he would understand. And so he kept at it, targeting his so called ‘loved’ ones, because they were holding his darling back. And this, this was his ultimate gift to Bruce, this would make him _see_.

And because he knew, if not love, he could settle with _hatred_. They aren’t so different after all... but now...

He feels like he’s choking. He hasn’t felt this much since… a while. His thoughts are a mess. He knows his desperation is probably very noticable in his eyes, but he doesn't care anymore. He doesn’t care that he looks like a mess, he doesn’t care that he’s practically screaming in Bruce’s face.

_“WITHOUT ME YOU ARE JUST A JOKE!”_

Please.

_Please_ understand.

_“...without a punchline.”_

He thought if not love, then hatred would suffice. But when he looks at Bruce's eyes, he finds nothing. Not hatred, and certainly not love. Just a vacant stare, as if he didn’t care. As if all he did was for nothing.

No. This is not what he wanted.

This didn’t go the way he planned.

Was he...

Was he wrong?

He suddenly realizes he’s no longer the one pinning Bruce to the railing, but the other way around. He can’t move, and he makes no effort to.

(He barely registers the loud _creak_ of the railing under his weight.)

He can’t bare looking at those eyes, but at the same time, he can’t stop looking at them… trying desperately to find something other than emptiness.

He refuses to acknowledge the wetness in his own.

Something breaks and he’s falling, the green becoming brighter and-

It stops.

Someone is holding his arm.

_Bruce._

A glimmer of hope resurfaces. Bruce- he… he still cares? Maybe... maybe everything wasn’t lost yet, maybe he can still-

His gaze locks with Bruce’s and the flicker of hope he had is gone instantly. Because Bruce’s eyes are still empty, and all they promise to Jeremiah is a cell to keep him locked away.

Away from Bruce, forever.

He can’t stand it.

Suddenly, everything he did comes back to him. Jerome. Gordon. The butler. The bitch. The bridges. The tunnel. The _parents_.

And before letting go, he has only one thought.

He’s a _fucking_ idiot.

And again, he’s falling. And soon enough, sinking.

He feels the acid burn his skin, as if it was melting, as if his _bones_ were melting. They probably are. The pain unbearable, he wants to scream.

He feels the acid enter through his throat, burning his insides as well.

He feels his eyes give out, his vision gone from green to white… and suddenly there’s only darkness.

He feels...

 

 

 

 

...someone smacking him in the face?

What.

His body, burning and melting mere seconds ago, suddenly feels completely fine. Save for the horrible headache starting to split through his skull. He feels so disoriented. But no longer burning. No longer- “Ouch.”

He curls up on himself, as he feels pressure on his midsection. Nothing compared to the pain he felt before, but. Still. Did someone just kick him in the stomach? He now realizes he had been laying on the floor. He moves to try sit up.

“Finally!” a voice says beside him, “Wasn’t expecting you to faint like that. Tsk.”

It takes him a second to recognize the voice. His eyes fly open as he stands up abruptly (almost falling again due to the sudden dizziness that hits him), to find himself face to face with his dead twin, a twisted smile on the other’s face.

His eyes go wide and he is frozen in place. Jeremiah was never a religious person, but he can’t help but wonder if he’s in hell. Whether this is his personal hell or not, he isn’t sure. But Jerome being here is fitting, either way.

“Hey, you there?” Jerome is shoving a gun on his face, trying to get his attention.

Instead, the sight of the gun brings back the memories of what happened with Bruce earlier. A similar gun on his own hands, shooting Bruce’s parents, the chase to Ace Chemicals, and their fight, and- How could he forget all of that? He supposes the whole melting to death could have distracted him a bit. And oh no, he can definitely feel tears in his eyes again.

Jerome hits him in the head with the pistol, effectively knocking him out of his thoughts.

“Come on!” Jerome is saying, an annoyed look in his face. Had he been talking? “I don’t remember you being this much of a cry baby. You’re kinda ruining my line delivery here, broth-”

Jeremiah is suddenly on Jerome. Holding onto him for dear life, because this day has been _hell_ (would be funny, if that’s where he is now). And he can’t help but feel like a kid again, hugging his twin because something upset him.

God, what a fool he had been. He’s not sure what’s happening, or where he is. But the sight of his brother brought back so many emotions within him, mostly conflicted. Hatred, confusion, relief. He latches onto the last one because he can’t bear feeling the others. Not right now.

“What the hell.” A new voice startles him.

He releases Jerome, who is giving him an odd look. He realizes now how rigid his twin had gone. He hadn’t hugged back (he didn’t think he would), but he hadn’t pushed him away either (or shot him), he notes.

Jeremiah takes a look around for the first time since waking up. He had been so caught up on everything that he didn’t even think of checking where they were. They are… in his bunker? He frowns. Just near the exit…

Looking past Jerome he notices Jonathan Crane and Jervis Tetch standing near the door. He remembers them. Both criminals he employed to help him bring Bruce…

He swallows as he pushes his thoughts to something else. He shouldn’t think of him right now. He turns around and finds Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock staring right back at him. Both wearing different expressions of incredulity.

They all stand there awkwardly for what seems like minutes.

No one says a word.

And then it clicks.

This is the day Gordon and Bullock found him. The day Jerome and his companions broke into his bunker. The day that started _everything_.

He’s giggling before he can even think of stopping himself. What are the odds!

His hand shoots up to try hide the giggles coming out of his mouth, because the men before him are looking at Jeremiah like he’s gone insane. But that wasn’t the best idea, because the moment he sees his hand his giggles turn into full out laughter.

His hands, they are flesh colour again! Not a deadly white like he had gotten used to. And he’s wearing his old brown suit. His hands travel to his face and he’s wearing glasses! How hadn’t he noticed that!?

God, he must look deranged, laughing like a maniac because he looked at his hands. What an odd sentence. He keeps laughing.

He looks back to Jerome, and he too is looking at him like he’s gone insane and god isn’t that just _hilarious_. He’s hysterical at this point.

Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot runs through the air and the room erupts into movement. And oh, there’s a sharp pain on his shoulder and he’s now on the floor.

_Huh. Déjà vu_.

It hurts more than last time. He wonders why. He doesn’t care.

He’s not sure how long he stays there, just laughing quietly to himself while clutching his injured shoulder. Not really thinking of anything but how funny the whole situation is.

Someone clears their throat. He looks up to see the two cops, now the only ones in the room, staring down at him.

“You have some explaining to do, kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> THERE IT IS i wrote this before the episode, just had it sittin there for a while! bein honest i prob won't finish it aAAA i mean i do have ideas but i dont think i know all the characters that well to make it work ashdjk I MEAN WHO KNOWS,,, MAYBE? but for now ill mark it as complete asdhj---- and hey maybe someone might read this and consider writin somethin with time travel.... or a similar concept... 👀👀👀
> 
> AND AGAIN,, BLESS [BATDOE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batdoe/profile) FOR PROOFREADENIN 🙏

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Looks like a second possiblility](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18383453) by [Alexander_Wesker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexander_Wesker/pseuds/Alexander_Wesker)




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